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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28535601">Of Traitors and Defectors</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/verdant_leaves/pseuds/verdant_leaves'>verdant_leaves</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Legacy of Azayaka Ha [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy XIV</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy XIV 1.x, Final Fantasy XIV Legacy, Minor Character Death, Nonbinary Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Not that we mourn for this bastard, Other</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:09:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,358</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28535601</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/verdant_leaves/pseuds/verdant_leaves</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone has betrayed the Garlond Ironworks, and their loyal bodyguard is hot on the trail. Introducing the last of my future Warriors of Light.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Legacy of Azayaka Ha [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2090367</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Of Traitors and Defectors</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This takes place during the Legacy/1.x quest "Know Your Enemy."</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Thief. Charlatan. Traitor.</p><p>There were not enough words to describe the odious man Azayaka now trailed after, the man trusted by them and the Ironworks: A man still tied to their enemy. It was fortunate that Jessie was away in Garlemald to sneak over more engineers, lest she be on the warpath, too. It would be a mess to deal with when she returned to the news but it was better than Azayaka having to babysit her in the chase for Charledore.</p><p>Charledore… He had left Garlemald immediately after Cid had defected, this Azayaka knew. He had seemed to be one of the most loyal of Cid’s engineers, his dedication only second to Ebrelnaux or Jessie. Now that his trade of information back to the Empire was revealed, however, his dedication could be seen for what it was.</p><p>And it was all the more enraging to Azayaka.</p><p>They had suspected that someone in their midst was unfaithful after continually finding Cid’s papers out of place. It had gone unnoticed by Cid, chronically messy as he was, but Azayaka was ever watching. Cid’s papers were always arranged differently than how they had been before they left, and it was a rule in the workshop that no one touch Cid’s corner. It didn’t stop with the papers, either. Jessie had stopped revealing her plans for her trips into Garlemald to anyone but Cid after a meeting place had been compromised. That was Cid’s clue that they had a traitor, but he could do nothing lest the traitor be alerted. He left rooting them out to Azayaka.</p><p>And root the traitor out, they did. They cursed themselves for not seeing it sooner, how Charledore was the first to leave at the end of the day, how he stood a little too close during conversations he was not a part of, how he always had the coin to afford two pints with his meals. It all added up.</p><p>“You know nothing, fool. Nothing!” Azayaka stopped short of rounding the rockface. They had been tracking Charledore through the west of Thanalan and past Horizon. They had tracked him to the sea’s edge, but as they moved quietly around the corner they could see that they had not pursued him alone.</p><p>In the distance, pressed tot he edge of the cliff, knelt Charledore. He looked weary, likely due to the Elezen in Immortal Flames colors that stood opposite him. Drawing their katana, Verdant slowly walked up on the scene. Charledore lifted his head and grimaced at their presence.</p><p>“You!” He spit. “Of course Garlond’s favorite lapdog followed me, like the bloodhound you are. Here to do the traitor’s dirty work?”</p><p>“You are the traitor,” Azayaka said lowly. They cast a cautionary glance to the other Elezen. They stood ready in the stance of a pugilist, watching Charledore behind unblinking goggles. “What business have the flames with this beast?”</p><p>“Traitor? Beast? Hah!” Charledore grinned ruefully at them both. “Do you even know whom you work for? Whom this blighted realm worships?”</p><p>“A defector of Garlemald,” the goggled said plainly. “What of it?”</p><p>“Defector?” Charledore laughed. “Traitor! For years, he enjoyed His Radiance's favor, being given all he ever asked, until one day he tired of his duties, turned his cloak and forsook us for this doomed realm. All for his own ends, lest you doubt it. That monster never gave a damn about anything else!” Azayaka growled and stepped closer. “And the dogs at the Ironworks name me a traitor!? Hah! They who serve the greatest traitor of all! Isn't that right…Cid?” Charledore turned his head to his left and Azayaka followed his gaze. To their frustration, Cid was walking up on the scene.</p><p>“So, you were the spy among us,” he said, stopping to the side of the Flame officer. “You were ordered to steal our findings – to learn what we knew of Dalamus. For Meteor-”</p><p>“Stay your bloody tongue!” Charledore stood, swaying on uneasy legs. He then began to laugh the laugh of a man gone mad. “The stench of the eikons permeates this pathetic realm. Even now I feel saturated by it. I can taste their stink, and every time I do, I fear that I've somehow been infected by it. Destruction alone can deliver this Eorzea from its taint - and destruction it will know!” He took a slight step back; Azayaka took a step forward. “No man can stop Ifrit. Nor Leviathan and Titan, nor eikons yet to come. Only Eorzea's end will bring about their death!” He threw out his hands.</p><p>“Long live Nael van Darnus! Long live Garlemald!” At that, Charledore turned and ran for the cliff. Seeing his intention, Azayaka charged after him, but was too late. He dove over the edge well beyond their reach and plummeted to the waves waiting below.</p><p>Azayaka knelt at the edge and watched, waiting to see any sign that he had survived the fall. Pushing their glasses up, they observed a twisted body rise to the surface and be buffeted against the rocks. “Spoken like a true Garlean.” They turned their head back to Cid. Azayaka shook their head and stood. “Loyal to the last.” He turned to the goggled officer as they returned their leather cestri to their waist.</p><p>“You know my past,” he said to her. “Wearing goggles like that… You’re one of Captain Dahlia’s?”</p><p>“I am,” the officer said. “It is not for my affiliation with her that I know you, however.” She lifted her goggles, revealing a startling pair of mismatched eyes. One was devoid of all color and framed by a matching white birthmark. “We met once before… In Ala Mhigo.”</p><p>“Aye, so we did,” he said softly. Azayaka joined his side, noting the obvious conflict upon his face. “Does… <em>he</em> know you’re here?”</p><p>“Specifically here, I highly doubt,” the Elezen said. “In Eorzea… Perhaps, for all the spies I know walk among us.” She shook her head and turned her eyes to Azayaka. They felt her gaze boring into them and looked away, only to be overwhelmed by that unwelcome sensation.</p><p>Bracing themselves, they watched as the cliff around them was replaced by tan stone walls. Before them stood the Elezen, goggles high upon their head and arms laden with the colors they wore in the present. Standing opposite them, behind a worn desk, stood Captain Dahlia.</p><p>“Yours is quite the tale,” Captain Dahlia said. “Would that you had told me sooner.”</p><p>“Would you have barred my entry into the company?” the Elezen asked. Captain Dahlia shook her head.</p><p>“Nay, you have proven yourself loyal,” she said. “Rather, I would have placed you in my squadron outright rather than Captain Dorne’s.” She reached down to pick up a paper. “Should word of your origins get out, I’d rather you were close to me that I may vouch for you.”</p><p>“I’d rather deal with it on my own,” the younger Elezen said with a huff. “My blood may speak to my Garlean father but I would have my words and actions speak to my opposition to the Empire’s intentions.”</p><p>“Alette…” Captain Dahlia shook her head. “Private Doson, you are an Immortal Flame now. You do not fight such battles alone. That is an order.” She folded the paper in her hand. “Expect to report to my squadron within the week.”</p><p>The vision began to fade, Alette’s response blending with another voice calling their name.</p><p>“Aza, do you hear me?”</p><p>“Yes,” they said, lifting their head to Cid. “Begging your pardon, but I believe a pursued Charledore with little regard to my own well-being.”</p><p>“I’m not surprised,” Cid said with a shake of his head. “What’s done is done; Let us return to Ul’dah.” Azayaka nodded and made to follow him, but paused as they looked to their guest. Alette Doson watched Azayaka with a knowing expression. She tilted her head in their direction before replacing their goggles upon their face. Azayaka turned away to quickly catch up to Cid. They didn’t like the look they had been given… It gave them the feeling that she had somehow looked into their soul, and that terrified Azayaka.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A note about Alette: Her father was a full-blooded Garlean and her mother a Duskwight elezen from Garlean-controlled territory. Have no fear, she is no spy. She is also the one of my five WoL's who has had her backstory changed the most. Her current backstory is probably my third or fourth attempt to get her to where she felt right.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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